MJW – Freelance Writer, Blogger, Interviewer

Doused in Mud, Soaked in Bleach – we need justice for Kurt

I watched Soaked in Bleach (twice) a couple of days ago – a stunning documentary on the tragic ending of Nirvana’s front man Kurt Cobain. I needed some time to gather my thoughts before writing this, so here goes:

Kurt Cobain was an iconic figure in the early 90’s, leading the ‘grunge’ scene and becoming a voice for people worldwide. Angst-ridden teens (me) and people who didn’t quite fit in to the stereotype of who we should be suddenly had a leader, someone to look up to; and almost 22 years since his death, I still look to him as an icon as do many people younger and older than me worldwide.

Kurt married Courtney Love in 1992, and their whirlwind romance brought a child into the world later that year. Kurt was known to have a drug problem, and when he died in April 1994 from a gunshot wound it was a pretty clear suicide, or so most people thought.

It’s better to burn out than fade away

Unfortunately like many idols, Kurt died young, joining the so-called ’27 Club’ (others that died at the age of 27 include Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse).

Kurt was a drug addict, as was Courtney, and he had suffered from a publicised suspected overdose / “suicide attempt” in Rome just a month before he died. Once Kurt got back to the States he checked into a rehab facility and wanted time away from Courtney, not speaking to her during the time that he was there, or even telling her where he was.

To counter this, Courtney hired a Private Investigator called Tom Grant to find Kurt in the week before he was found dead. Courtney told Tom that Kurt wanted a divorce and was suicidal, and despite Tom’s efforts to find him, Kurt was found dead at his home on April 8 1994. Many things don’t add up however, and this has led Tom to develop some significant evidence that has led him to believe that this was no suicide.

After seeing this film and reading about the case over the last 22 years, I totally agree that this was not a suicide.

There are so many questions that this documentary highlights, I’m not going to list them all but one of the biggest issues for me surrounds the suicide note (image below):

The vast majority of the note talks about wanting to step away from music, it is only the last part (in larger writing) that takes the form of what you would expect in a traditional suicide note (“Please keep going…” and “…will be so much happier without me”)

Forensic experts interviewed in Soaked in Bleach commented that they believe that the handwriting is different, a close friend of both Kurt and Courtney (and also their attourney) said that she believed that someone other than Kurt had written that bottom section.

Something that then cropped up in the documentary was even more worrying – sheets of paper were found in Courtney’s bag showing someone practicing different handwriting (and individual letters) copied from Kurt’s notebooks; and not letters in a logical order of A – B – C. Many of these letters are included in words at the bottom of the note.

Add to this that Kurt had 70 times the lethal dose of heroin (for a normal person) in his blood stream, yet still managed to handle a shotgun well enough to shoot himself. Many experts saying that they have never heard or seen of something like this before, and that there is apparently no evidence of similar happening since his death.

In fact, not only did he muster the strength and action to fire a shotgun, but he managed to put all of his drug paraphernalia neatly in a box next to him before pulling the trigger. Experts say that the dosage itself would have killed him quickly.

The police rushed the case, having already been fed a lead by Love (posing as Kurt’s mother) just days before that Kurt was missing, suicidal, and in possession of a shotgun. Just a few days after this report was filed, Cobain was found dead with a shotgun resting on his chest. Open and shut case for the police I guess, and the suicide was declared on the same day he was found.

No investigation took place and many of the photographs taken by the police of the scene were never even published; Courtney Love was even given the shotgun back (to melt down) and also given permission to tear down the annexe in which Kurt was found.

I cant list all of the inconsistencies within this article, it wont do the good work that Tom Grant and his team have done justice. If any of this raises your curiosity, I urge you to watch Soaked in Bleach, and have a read of http://cobaincase.com – you can download the case evidence for free.

Please check out Soaked in Bleach and support the team campaigning to re-open this case. Thank you to Tom Grant and everyone involved in this project so far for bringing this back to the public arena.

The amount of evidence pointing to something other than a `suicide` is staggering. It`s unbelievable that the Police did such a poor job investigating and refuse to reopen the case…… unless of course money closes peoples mouths etc